PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar has exhorted members of the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO), youth arm of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), to consolidate the gains of the past, even as he reminded the organization of the struggles that its parent body, the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), has undergone over the years.

Noting that present conditions in Guyana are even more difficult than in the past, the president said a case in point was the ongoing debates on corruption now being aired on NCN, whereby in spite of all the accusations being leveled at the present administration, it detractors have not been able to identify a single area of corruption, and are instead trying to shift the arguments to other issues.
He said the PYO must fight to preserve freedom of the press and freedom of association from people who are pretending to be fighting for these rights but whose history and intention are really to try to take the country back to being a repressive state.
In face of this development, he said, and given the plethora of information available to the public, it is incumbent on the PYO and the PPP to educate its members to enable them to understand and sift out the real truth.
He said the opposition has been trying to disparage the achievements of the PPP over the last 20 years, and therefore, the PYO has to have a world view and a position that would help it understand what is really happening in the society, and not to fall prey to the opposition tactic of repeating lies.
He said the PYO has the best opportunity to be builders of the society, and must be ready to make more sacrifices to defend Guyana’s democracy, and work to build the country.
PYO members, he said, must also guard against falling prey to perennial temptations by constantly fighting against corruption in every area of life.
President Ramotar called on the PYO not only to be nationalistic, but to have an international outlook as well. He said that wherever freedom is threatened or is under attack, that threat also jeopardises Guyana’s freedom; and Guyanese must express solidarity with people elsewhere in the world who are struggling for freedom.
The President made particular reference to Palestine, urging the PYO to rekindle the spirit of internationalism, and to express their views on what is happening in the world; to seek solidarity, and to seek to give solidarity to our own causes in Guyana.

The PYO
The PYO is the official youth arm of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP).It was formed in 1952, two years after the formation of the PPP.
The President said the first steps that the PYO took 60 years ago brought the members along many paths which have tested their reserve, but not their resolve or courage.
He said the PYO has been a reliable ally in the struggle for unity, liberation and social justice.
Congratulating the PYO on attaining its 60th year in existence, the President said that organisation has a glorious history, and it is time for that history to be officially documented.
Leading PYO member Omar Sharif, who is the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President informed the gathering that following a directive from President Ramotar, who is also the General Secretary of the PPP, the PYO took steps to reconstitute, rejuvenate and re-engineer its strategies, resulting in establishment of an Interim National Steering Committee, which was then broadened to include the representatives of regional steering committees from the East Coast of Demerara and from Region 2.
The interim bodies will form a temporary organizational skeleton to rebrand the PYO, to make it better equipped to adjust to the new realities, and to allow it to work with greater flexibility within the society.
The goal is to have a fully constituted National Committee that includes all the regions by the end of November 2012; and by March 2013, an elected national executive body of the PYO will be formed.
Sharif reminded his comrades that they are being called on to safeguard past gains; therefore, they must be vigilant and defend those gains, because PYO members are torch bearers of the economic and social transformation unfolding in Guyana.